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drmrsguild

Tomatoes past summer dormancy

drmrsguild
13 years ago

Hello all! I have a question regarding my tomatoes. This spring we planted several varieties - beefsteak, two San marzanos, a yellow pear heirloom, a grape, and a Mr Stripey - and were rewarded with lots of tomatoes all the way up to August. After that, the plants went dormant, and were mostly turned crispy. Now that it's cooling off again, I went to check on them, and they appear very much alive. The stalks are fully green, and there is new growth on the very ends of the now-long vines.

So my question is this - will these same plants re-flower and fruit for me this fall, or should we start with all new? Someone said on here that Phx tomato season starts with new plants now, baby them thru the winter, and harvest all spring, but has anyone had results with ones that made it through the summer? How long can you keep a tomato plant alive??

Comments (6)

  • hellbound
    13 years ago

    in theory forever but here in az if you shade in summer and cover in winter u can get 4 or 5 good years out of it but at the very least if you fertilize and water it well u can expect another full crop about the end of october depending on the temperatures earlier if it cool down earlier they should still be flowering now just not germinating or producing really small fruit due to the heat now

  • noisebeam
    13 years ago

    I do this well with peppers. For me the fall crop is always better than spring as the plant is more mature and there are more days of fruit setting temps. By the first frost most peppers are ripe.

    However I've never had good luck doing this with tomatoes. The plants seem weaker after the rough summer - most new growth is at the end of long stems and trimming back plant doesn't seem to provide new growth on shorter healthier stems, so new plants do better.

  • hellbound
    13 years ago

    do you get a second crop of tomatoes in the fall? last year i got tomatoes well into december and i don't even plan on getting peppers till fall u might get a few in the spring but fall is when all peppers really shine here. start fertalizing now temps back down in the 90's this week might be another good window for germination that cool spell we had a couple weeks ago made my anaheims and new mexico big jims blow up i've got what looks like 100 chiles coming i just hope this heat doesn't stunt them

  • tracydr
    13 years ago

    I cut all my tomatoes back recently. They are trying to start growing again although it looks like they are in need of some sulfur or something. I have them near a sidewalk so the pH is really high. The leaves are small and the outer parts are yellow. Has anyone seen this before?
    Not the same as the chloriosis that I was dealing with earlier. I'm hoping I can get them going again for a better crop. My spring crop was pretty weak. I did plant some new blacks, just in case I can't pull these through.

  • hellbound
    13 years ago

    that's just the heat i use some epson salt at the begining of august then mg tomato formula last week along with jobes tomato spikes they're getting lots of new growth and flowers all i need is the temps to drop 10 degrees and i'll have lots of tomatoes....

  • az_pamperedchef
    13 years ago

    My tomatoes are doing well, now if they would just ripen!

    Black Krim
    {{gwi:417194}}

    More Black Krim
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    Cherokee Purple (plant is from last fall, made it through the summer, just barely)
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    {{gwi:417197}}

    Beefmaster (also from last fall)
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    You can see the "crispiness" from the summer
    {{gwi:417200}}

    Black Prince (never tried it before, any reviews on it?)
    {{gwi:417201}}

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